


Midnight Cravings

by Measured_Words



Category: Diablotin
Genre: Comfort, Drunkenness, M/M, No Snuggles, Pining, Pre-Slash, Ralf is Bad at Emotions, SO SAD, Second Psyrene War, let him rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 17:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13886073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured_Words/pseuds/Measured_Words
Summary: Ralf is a little maudlin on his last night of leave, and feeling a little lonely.  So of course he looks for Ander.





	Midnight Cravings

It was late, and technically Ralf's leave was over. They'd had a few days away from the front lines, and that was as good a break as they were likely to get for the moment. They'd shipped back in that afternoon and reported in, so that they'd be ready in the morning for the usual exchange of fire with the slicks down in their trenches some few hundred feet away. But Jillain – it was always Jillain, despite her recent promotion – had managed to smuggle a half a bottle of whiskey back to the trench. Or else she'd confiscated it off someone else. Ralf wasn't sure and didn’t really care. They'd split it three ways – her and Harald and him. The couple'd gone off to be alone, leaving him on his own.

He wasn't drunk, not really. A little light-headed, maybe, but not slurring or stumbling, or anything else that would get him in trouble. It was just enough to make him think, and what he thought was that drinking with his fellow soldiers had been fun, but that he wasn't ready to be back, and that if he was back in the hole then he wasn't ready to be here alone. Except he didn't have anyone out here, not like they had each other. There wasn't anyone out here he was close with at all…

…Except maybe the captain.

There had been that one time, in the cave, where he'd thought he was going to die until the captain – the lieutenant then, second-lieutenant, even – had shown up. They'd shared something Ralf didn't have a name for, not one that felt right. Despite his injuries, the captain had made him feel good. Safe. He'd never asked for anything in return, and they'd never talked about it.

Maybe the prospect of another tour on the front lines had him craving that fleeting sense of safety, and whatever else Captain Suterre might have to offer. Now that Ralf found himself standing in front of the corrugated metal sheet that served as a door to the bunker, Ralf wondered briefly whether it was just the whiskey getting to him, but here he was, knocking. Just a quiet tap, that's all, in case he was up, for some reason, so late…

Ralf's heart beat faster when he heard movement inside, and quite quickly the door was sliding open.

Of course. The captain probably did get messages at all hours, and everyone was a light sleeper on the front. The captain also hadn't been out on leave.

He clearly hadn’t been awake before. His eye were bright only with the initial burst of adrenaline that had him rolling out of bed. His hair was tousled, brushing almost into his eyes, and he was only half dressed in trousers and undershirt. Ralf could see the scars along his arm from the explosion at Tashoren, faded from angry red to a bright pink, but still healing. That was part of it too – the long hike away from the base, wondering if the lieutenant was going to make it, and the relief he'd felt whenever his fingers had curled weakly around Ralf's. He'd spend weeks sitting by his bed after that, and after the trench collapse that had come the first day of their new assignment…

He had time to think about all of this because the captain was staring at him in sleepy surprise, leaning against the makeshift frame.

Ralf threw off a salute, which the captain returned out of habit as he furrowed his brow.

"Enderlen… What is it?"

And what was it? "…Nothin' sir." Ralf hunched his shoulders. "Just meant to come check on you. Musta lost track of time."

A smile tugged at the corner of the captain's mouth for a moment, but overall he still seemed befuddled form sleep, the adrenaline surge fading and leaving behind a man woken up in the middle of the night for nothing. Then his eyes narrowed slightly. "You been drinkin'?"

The question was utterly sobering, and Ralf worried about how big a mistake he'd just made. But it was the captain after all, and he just shook his head.

"Go to bed, Ralf. I'll see you in the mornin'."

"Right. G'night sir." 

Ralf turned to go, not quite satisfied, but warmed somewhat by the captain's tone. He was halfway down the trench towards the soldiers' bunker when he heard the corrugated metal door slide closed again, and he realized the captain had been watching him leave. Looking out for him. That was enough, for now, to feel a little less alone.


End file.
